Tower, by Ryan Tan

“Tower” is a choice-based game describing a person’s ascent up the titular tower, which serves as an allegory for his phobias and other aspect of his life.

Gameplay: I only played this game once, but it was unclear to me how my choices affect the story. There were definitely areas of the game that I missed (based on its concluding text), but I’m not sure even after finishing the game what I should have done to encounter them. The background and text colors change vary with the narrator’s mental state. Beyond that, though, I really don’t know what to make of this game. The post-game text goes into the allegorical significance of the areas of the tower, but I found it only more confusing. 3/10.

Mechanics: The game is choice-based, though it was unclear, both at the time and in retrospect, what significance the choices have or why I should make one choice over another. The game makes more sense to me a randomized series of rooms with some emotional imagery than as a single coherent story. There are also sections of the game in which one has to wait for the text to advance, which I found annoying, particularly when that mechanic was repeated at several points. 3/10.

Presentation: The author has a well-defined voice that stays consistent throughout the game. Completing it gives some information on events the player encountered or missed during the game, as well as opening up notes from the author accessible from the title screen. 4/10.

You might be interested in this game if: You like the author’s style and games with ambiguous interpretations.